GST Bill passed in Puducherry Assembly

Puducherry becomes the first Union Territory to pass the Goods and Services Tax Bill among the other six.

Puducherry, May 17: The Puducherry Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017 in Puducherry. The bill was tabled in the assembly by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy.

MLAs of the ruling and opposition blocks participated in the debate after the bill was tabled and expressed their views on various aspects of the GST system. They appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure that there was no setback to the revenue flow to the territorial government in the wake of implementation of the GST Act.

Narayanasamy said, Puducherry was part of the GST council and Union Territory had been given the status of a state. He noted that the new tax regime would prevent tax evasion. The Puducherry government was keen that there should be no disadvantageous impact on Puducherry by the implementation of the GST, he said adding already 80 percent of the traders had expressed willingness to migrate to the GST pattern in the Union Territory.

After the Chief Minister presented his reply highlighting the features of the GST the Bill tabled by him was adopted unanimously. A help desk had been set up in the Commercial Taxes Department to address the woes of the traders and others covered under the GST.

On the two-day meeting of the GST Council to commence under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister tomorrow in Delhi, Narayanasamy said, "It is a crucial meeting as it would decide which commodity will fall in which tax bracket."

The Parliament had on April 6 passed four legislations to pave the way for nationwide roll-out of GST from July 1.

GST Bill passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

On March 29, Lok Sabha passed the CGST Bill with amendments. All four bills related to GST passed in Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had called for a vote on a clause by clause voting on GST Bill amendments after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ended his address with a call for passage of the draft bills. "I request the House to pass the bill unanimously drafted by a representative council as is."

As he sought passage of GST Bills Jaitley had said that goods may become slightly cheaper once all other taxes are removed after implementation of the Goods and Service Tax. the debate for GST that went on for the day without lunch break covered various aspects of GST.

On April 6, the GST bills was passed in the Rajya Sabha. The GST Bills comprises of four bills -- Central Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017, Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017, Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017, and Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to the States) Bill 2017. The Union Cabinet approved the four GST-related Bills on March 20.

• States which passed GST Bill and when
• Telangana had passed the Bill on April 9
• Bihar had passed the Bill on April 24
• Rajasthan had passed the Bill on April 26
• Jharkhand had passed the Bill on April 27
• Chhattisgarh had passed the Bill on April 28
• Haryana had passed the Bill on May 4
• Uttarakhand had passed the Bill on May 2
• Goa Assembly had passed the Bill on May 9
• Andhra Pradesh had passed the Bill on May 16
• Uttar Pradesh had passed the Bill on May 16

OneIndia News ( With PTI inputs)